The prototypes for the US-Mexico border wall have been demolished.
The US Customs and Border protection had built the eight 30-foot tall steel and concrete models near an existing barrier separating San Diego and Tijuana on the US-Mexico border.
The prototypes, considered a symbol of the President Trump’s commitment to border security for his allies and a sign of an increasingly hostile immigration policy to his critics, were reduced to rubble on Tuesday after it became clear they were unsuitable.
A 2018 report from the Government Accountability Office found that the construction challenges presented by the four concrete models would be “extensive” and those presented by two of the other models would be “substantial”.
Each prototype cost between $300,000 to $500,000 to build and they are being knocked down in order to make way for the San Diego Secondary Wall project, which will see up to 14 miles of barrier being built to support the existing steel border fence.
The new barrier will not employ the design of any of the prototypes, instead being built of the favoured steel bollards which make up the current section of the wall at San Diego.
